Kulbhushan Jadhav's friends pray for his release

New Delhi took the case to the UN's top judicial body after the Pakistan court sentenced Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer who was arrested in March 2016, to death in April 2017 for alleged espionage.

Presenting Pakistani stance, the Director General of South Asia in Foreign Office Dr Muhammad Faisal at ICJ in The Hague, Netherlands, today said under Vienna Convention, hearing of criminal cases does not fall under the purview of the global court.

Earlier, India demanded the immediate suspension of Mr Jadhav's death sentence, expressing fears that Pakistan could execute him even before the hearing at ICJ.

As the ICJ began hearing Jadhav's case, India argued that human rights, treated as "basics" all across the world, had been thrown to the wind by Pakistan. As India prepares to face Pakistan at the worldwide platform, reports suggest that the former's defence is only based on the fact that they have been denied the right to consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav.

India claims that Pakistan breached a long-standing global convention on consular relations by not granting Indian officials access to Kulbhushan Jadhav after his arrest previous year.

The ICJ also denied permission to Pakistan to play a purported confessional video of Jadhav at the public hearing here.

"India believes that the farcical nature of the proceedings and unjust trial by a Pakistan military court. has led to a serious miscarriage of justice". "Indeed, it is somewhat ironic but perhaps consistent that India complains that it has not been given access to commander Jadhav who has confessed to having been sent by India to wage terror on the innocent civilians and infrastructure of Pakistan", Faisal said.

Attorney General Ashtar Ausuf is leading Pakistan's defence. Additionally, India alleged that "it was not informed of Jadhav's detention until long after his arrest".

Earlier, Deepak Mittal, Joint Secretary, of the Pakistan, Afghanistan, India Desk at the Ministry of External Affairs, told the court in his opening remarks that there was a fear that Jadhav may be executed soon even before the decision of the United Nations court.

Pakistan, however, rejected India's attempts to invoke the jurisdiction of ICJ to save Jadhav's life.

Khwara Qureshi: Pakistan gave India all information regarding Jadhav's investigation, but didn't receive any response from New Delhi.

India was to present its case on Monday morning asking the court to order provisional measures to suspend the execution until the tribunal has had time to consider and rule on the full case.

India, in its appeal, has asserted that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran, where he was doing business after he retired from the Indian Navy. No connection with government.